Twenty-four hours later, on Horner’s first day in the paddock since seemingly being cleared, a dossier of 79 files implied to be evidence from the investigation was leaked to more than 100 F1 personnel including championship CEO Stefano Domenicali, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, all Horner’s rival team bosses, the media – and Jos Verstappen.
The mid-week leak meant the situation could not (and did not) end with the conclusion of the investigation. Someone, somewhere, wanted to turn the screw on Horner. Which gave way to a remarkable tension on Friday in Bahrain due to speculation another leak would come around qualifying, but this did not come to pass.
Horner would not budge. On race day, he was joined by his wife Geri Halliwell-Horner in a deliberate display of support interpreted by some as a statement of defiance that kept attention on Horner when he should be laying low.
Despite Horner saying after the race that the result “demonstrates where the whole team’s focus is”, this situation is an ongoing, enormous destabiliser. Team members trackside and at the factory will not be able to ignore it, nor the specifics – not what was leaked, regardless of whether it was all real, and not what Jos has said now.
Their attention may not deviate when it counts, and maybe Horner did retain full or overwhelming support from his team while the investigation was going on and when it was concluded. But his leadership has been compromised by the events of the last few days, and potentially fatally undermined.
That is before even factoring in what Red Bull’s partners may or may not think. Remember, its 2026 engine partner Ford was putting huge pressure on a resolution and demanding transparency – which it may not get, based on Red Bull’s parent company not wanting to disclose the investigation’s report to protect the privacy of those involved.
After Red Bull dominated the grand prix, Horner reiterated in his media session he would not comment on the leak. A question about whether the messages were genuine was blocked. But with conviction, Horner insisted he believed he would continue to lead the team for the full season, adding: “I’ve always been entirely confident that I would be here. And my focus is on the season ahead and the races we have ahead.”
Jos Verstappen’s comments put that in doubt. First because the influence of the Verstappen camp within Red Bull Racing, and how Red Bull handles its F1 business. It is enormous and Jos is a key part of that. He is not a normal racing parent in the background.
Second, it means a significant figure related to the organisation – and literally to its star driver – is speaking out against Horner’s leadership, effectively undermining it and indirectly calling for him to leave. While Jos has explicitly denied claims that he was responsible for the leak itself, what he has said here will have serious consequences.
Horner, Red Bull Racing and Red Bull itself cannot ignore this. There will be emergency talks to get ahead of the situation before next weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. If not, the rising tension plays out in full view of everybody in F1.
Max will be confronted with this too. He has had to sidestep provocative comments from his father in the past, for instance when a blog post by Jos was posted on the official Verstappen website in response to Red Bull not favouring his son during the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix – a race won by Perez after he secured pole crashing on the final runs in qualifying.
But this is on another level entirely. Especially as it came little more than 24 hours after Max had praised Horner in the post-qualifying press conference in Bahrain and offered what was generally considered to be a qualified level of support.
